LUDHIANA: The country may be in a celebratory mood, but Mohinder Kaur is flooded with memories of the violence that happened to herself and her family exactly 75 years ago, even in the mid-80s. It’s fading. “Nowadays, she cries repeatedly for her mother, ‘My mother has been killed,’ says her son Kawaljit Singh.
The family lives in Geeta Nagar, Tajpur Road, Ludhiana. Among them was Mohinder’s mother. women of the extended family who were killed by the men of his family. Mohinder was the only surviving woman in the family.
Talking about that time, she often takes her hand behind the head. “As the older men of the family killed their own female relatives, their hands were, perhaps, staggered because they attacked themselves and the wounds were not deep enough to kill immediately,” he said of the scar above him. says. he was considered dead after she hit her head, but later she was found it Breathe and the elders in the family decide not to kill him again and take him along. She tells that she was 9-10 years old when the partition happened.
“My father’s extended family and mother’s extended family lived in the same town and we had a big house in Jhang’s Guru Nanak Pura area. I was living with my Nanak’s (mother’s) family when the riots started, ” she says.
The Sikhs in her city had decided to kill all the women of their family, when attacks from Muslim rioters seemed imminent, when two-three Hindu women had already been abducted and tried for similar abductions. and were threatening. “Women were also parties to the decision, as they said that they would prefer to end their lives rather than be kidnapped and face the consequences of the latter, if the rioters attacked then the men should have fought back,” she said. says.
“My great-grandmother was blind, yet she was a brave woman. She also prevented the rioters from entering our house. However, the rioters took her in their place. She pretended she was feeling cold and she put them down the chimney. When they were away, she reached near the fire and pulled the burning wood on herself and ended her life.” The family came to know about it from the same Muslims later when the army reached there.
“If the women were still not dead, they were poisoned. My maternal uncle (Mama) Kartar Singh’s wife was pregnant. She had come to live with her in-laws for the delivery. She was not killed along with the others and She was locked up. When the next day, she came out and saw other women dead, she pleaded with my maternal grandfather to kill her too. She initially refused, but then heeded her pleas to cry and Killed him with a sword,” she says. “Sikh families cremated their dead with wood available in their homes while leaving their homes. These memories never faded away.
The family lives in Geeta Nagar, Tajpur Road, Ludhiana. Among them was Mohinder’s mother. women of the extended family who were killed by the men of his family. Mohinder was the only surviving woman in the family.
Talking about that time, she often takes her hand behind the head. “As the older men of the family killed their own female relatives, their hands were, perhaps, staggered because they attacked themselves and the wounds were not deep enough to kill immediately,” he said of the scar above him. says. he was considered dead after she hit her head, but later she was found it Breathe and the elders in the family decide not to kill him again and take him along. She tells that she was 9-10 years old when the partition happened.
“My father’s extended family and mother’s extended family lived in the same town and we had a big house in Jhang’s Guru Nanak Pura area. I was living with my Nanak’s (mother’s) family when the riots started, ” she says.
The Sikhs in her city had decided to kill all the women of their family, when attacks from Muslim rioters seemed imminent, when two-three Hindu women had already been abducted and tried for similar abductions. and were threatening. “Women were also parties to the decision, as they said that they would prefer to end their lives rather than be kidnapped and face the consequences of the latter, if the rioters attacked then the men should have fought back,” she said. says.
“My great-grandmother was blind, yet she was a brave woman. She also prevented the rioters from entering our house. However, the rioters took her in their place. She pretended she was feeling cold and she put them down the chimney. When they were away, she reached near the fire and pulled the burning wood on herself and ended her life.” The family came to know about it from the same Muslims later when the army reached there.
“If the women were still not dead, they were poisoned. My maternal uncle (Mama) Kartar Singh’s wife was pregnant. She had come to live with her in-laws for the delivery. She was not killed along with the others and She was locked up. When the next day, she came out and saw other women dead, she pleaded with my maternal grandfather to kill her too. She initially refused, but then heeded her pleas to cry and Killed him with a sword,” she says. “Sikh families cremated their dead with wood available in their homes while leaving their homes. These memories never faded away.